Benefits Of LED Lights

Benefits of LED Lighting

LED lighting is a new technology and as with any type of new technology, there are limited suppliers of really high quality South African certified LED Lights, for a reasonable price. We are committed to bringing not only the best quality globes to our online store for consumers, but at a price of up to 40% less than our competitors selling comparable products.

There are four overwhelming reasons to switch to LED lighting with www.citek.co.za

It's going to save you a heap of cash, and we mean a heap!

You won't need to change globes for 30 Years depending on your usage and you will save 90% on your lighting bills.

You'll be helping save our environment

Power Bills Estimated to double

The immediate benefits you will notice running LED lighting, is the amount of savings you will have over long periods of time. With power bills estimated to double in the next six years, you cant afford to stick with standard and costly halogen lighting - There's simply no excuse.

Your current conventional lighting is literally chewing up power, and that will most certainly be noticeable on your Electricity bills. LED Lighting will drastically reduce your power costs as well as decrease carbon emissions.

Eskom has been battling with electricity shortage since January 2008 and therefore has proposed the following price increases The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved the following increases:

• 24.8 percent for 2010/11 financial year, which will bring the average Eskom electricity price to 41.31c per kWh;

• 25.8 percent for 2011/12, bringing the average Eskom electricity price 51.68 c per kWh; and

• 25.9 percent in 2012/13, making the average Eskom electricity price 65.06c per kWh.

• Higher fuel, gas will also boost power bills

• LED Lighting - guaranteed to save you money

Its a simple equation - If you continue using costly halogen and incandescent lighting in your home or place of business your power bills will continue to go through the roof. We are giving you ammunition you need to make the educated decision to make the move to LED lighting. We've done it and are already experiencing the massive benefits. What are you waiting for?

What is LED Lighting?

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and is an electronic light source. Most lighting found in South African homes and offices today are very inefficient costing homeowners bucket loads of money as well as emitting vast amount of CO2 into our atmosphere killing our environment.

LED lighting is a viable replacement for existing household and office lighting, just much cheaper and better for our environment. There is no reason to wait any longer, get rid of your costly Halogen lighting and switch your globes to LED today.

The above table is to be used as an approximate comparison guide; lumen ratings can vary between different light types.

LED Lighting Colours

LED Lighting can come in many different colours, the most common of these in household usage lights are Warm White, White and Cool White. The standard for many houses especially in Australia is Warm White.

AtCitek we stock the two most sought after LED Lighting colours - Warm White with a Kelvin rating of 2700K-3300K and Cool White with a Kelvin rating of 5700K-6500K

LED Beam Angle - 30 degree/ 60 degree/100 degree?

If you are replacing existing halogen downlights, and spacing cannot be changed a beam width of 60 degrees is more than acceptable on 2400mm ceilings. If you are installing LED Lighting during a new house build or renovation, the rule of thumb is that on taller ceilings you use a narrower beam, (30 degrees) and on a lower ceiling or bulkhead use a wider beam (60 or 100 degrees).

The beam should cross at about 1100mm above floor level, for even light distribution. On a globe with a 60 degree beam this would mean an optimum spacing of 1200mm.

So Why all the Hype About LED?

LED lighting is a huge leap in technology which is going to benefit both our environment as well as your spending for household lighting.

The below list gives you an idea of how revolutionary LED lighting is and how it will be the future of household lighting in South Africa and around the world.

Light Life: LED lights last up to 50 times longer than a standard Halogen light globe. At 45,000 hours you only need to change the globes once every 30 years.

Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.

Colour: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the use of color filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and can lower initial costs.

Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2) and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.

On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly.

Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.

Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by Pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current.

Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.

Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt burn-out of incandescent bulbs.

Lifetime: LEDs can have a long useful life. LED life is approx. 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer. Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.

Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.

Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner.

Toxicity: LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

Cost Saving: LED lights run on 90% less energy than standard halogen lights, and with up to 50% of a electricity bill comprising of lighting, that's a huge saving over a year.

Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.

Colour: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the use of color filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and will lower ongoing costs.

Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2) and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.

On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly.

Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.

Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by Pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current.

Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.

Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt burn-out of incandescent bulbs.

Lifetime: LEDs can have a long useful life. LED life is approx. 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer. Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.

Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.

Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner.

Toxicity:LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

Will LED Globes fit in my Current light fittings?

YES they will - LED Lights are made to simply replace your existing light bulbs using your existing fittings. Check out our LEDproducts page for the different types of LED Lights available and products in stock meeting your required connection type through our online store. Each product will be clearly marked with the relevant connection or fitting type (Illustrated below)

There are LED replacement globes for most types of standard lighting including: incandescent bulbs, downlights and spot lights.

The most common two connections in housing today are GU10 and MR16 connector types. All MR16 type globes use transformers, usually one per light - For LED globes to perform at their maximum, dedicated DC Constant Voltage LED specific drivers should be used.

The more traditional type globes being B22 Bayonet connection type globe, which has two side pins to connect into globe fittings and the E27 Edison connection type globe, which has a screw base now come in 10watt LED. Our 10 WATT E27 and B22 LED stock will fit directly into your existing B22 and E27 fittings.

GU10 is a direct connection to 240v - When 240v (GU10) is used, there is no need for any transformers. Dimming can be achieved by using a dimmable GU10 LED globe with a standard trailing edge dimmer. MR16 is a 12v lighting connection which is stepped down from 240v to 12v using a transformer - Where 12v LED lighting is concerned, you need to use LED specific transformers for LED optimal performance.

What's the deal with LED transformers?

The brightness, and optimal evenness of light output and actual life of the LED globe is dependent on the transformer you use for 12v MR16 lighting. Generally wire wound (Iron Core) transformers will successfully run most LED globes, however they do not produce the best results - Using Electronic or Iron Core transformers, not only void our LED warranty they also cut the LED life from 50,000 hours to around 43,000 hours.

Most cheaper electronic transformers used to power halogen globes will not run LED globes at all. Typical tell tale signs of the faults seen are a noticeable flickering. Many electronic transformers have a "VA" rating or a load rating "20-60" stamped on them. If this is the case they will not recognize a load of only 4watt , 3x3watt or 10watts.

In general terms you'll be much better positioned to change to actual LED transformers, this enables you to take full advantage of low voltage lighting and maximum savings in the long run. LED transformers will use far less energy and run much cooler than traditional standard electronic or wire wound transformers.

When using our Mean Well LED transformers, you can choose to run individual LED globes off each transformer or multiple LED globes. This is simply dependent on the physical distance between your lights.

As with any of Citek's products, we've ensured that our range of Car LED, caravan LED and Boating LED is of premium quality and the brightest light output possible. Our automotive and marine replacement LED globes, can simply be swapped over from the old style globes.

Our automotive and marine LED globes come in different connection types and sizes, the most common automotive LED are Festoon LED Globes, T10 LED, T20 LED and BAY15D 1156 LED Series LED lights. Please check the exact measurements of the globes from your specific car, caravan or boat and refer to our measurement guide on each LED product page.

I hear Some people say LED is too Expensive!

If anybody says to you that LED is an expensive way to go, you're listening to the wrong people.

Citek.will leave the math to you and you can decide if it's the more beneficial route. Check out our savings calculator to discover for yourself the huge monetary benefits to using LED Lights. It's clear to see the savings over a year make the switch to LED the smart choice.